The Second Meteor
by LittleMeister93
Summary: Shinra discover that the man in the Black Cape survived after the defeat in the Northern Crater, but he has amnesia. Reluctantly Shinra calls upon Cloud Strife to help...
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

A small squad of Shinra soldiers had been sent to the Northern Crater to investigate the aftermath of the massive battle that had taken place there. Their mission was simple - investigate the area, find the whereabouts of the man in the Black Cape, then report to President Rufus. The more recently recruited soldiers shuffled uneasily as the entire squad traversed down a treacherous rocky passage, their footsteps echoing in the darkness.

The commander stopped after a while and whirled on his heel to face the rest of the squad. "Keep your guard up, men. Don't forget who we're dealing with." The soldiers saluted in response and resumed marching. Only the sounds of footsteps, crunching snow and nervous breaths could be heard.

Something silvery could be seen in the distance. The squad picked up their pace and went to investigate. A discarded sword, long and shiny, its blade coated with dried blood. The other soldiers stepped back shivering, but the commander held his ground. He hushed the others and ordered them to remain silent. There was the sound of breathing... laboured, riddled with coughs, and not one of their own.

Quickly he ushered the soldiers towards the source, and there they found who they were looking for. The man in the Black Cape. However, something was not right. He was not even poised to escape, let alone attack. The soldiers were ordered to surround him and aim their rifles.

The clicks of the rifles being armed echoed throughout as the man in the Black Cape made a slight jerking movement.

"Hold your fire!" The commander stepped forward and held his hands up. "President Rufus would want to see him alive." The rifles were lowered and the four strongest soldiers hoisted the man in the Black Cape up and took him away, the rest of the squad keeping a close watch on him.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter**____**1**_

Cloud Strife was rudely awoken from his weekend lie-in by a piercing ringing sound. He groaned, rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, combing through his spiked hair with his fingers. The ringing sounded again, and he growled under his breath before snatching up his PHS and checking who was calling. He did not recognise who it was but he answered anyway.

"Cloud Strife. What the hell do you want?" He yawned whilst he waited for a response.

"Hey Cloud. You remember me?" A pause. "Is this a bad time?" Cloud knew that voice. Reno, a member of the Turks in Shinra. His left eye twitched a little, but he ignored it.

"Yeah, I remember you, Reno." Cloud thought a moment. "Couldn't have been worse, but go on."

"We haven't spoken since the Meteor incident, so I thought I'd just tell you about everythi-"

Cloud gripped the PHS tighter, his knuckles turning white. "Just get to the point, Reno. Why are you calling me?"

There was a longer pause. Cloud was about to repeat his question when he heard an intake of breath over the line. "Sephiroth is still alive." A pause. "The President of Shinra knows you were after him too, and... well, he wants your help." Cloud almost laughed out loud at Reno's statement. President Rufus Shinra, wanting his help? The two were wary acquaintances at the best of times. He prompted Reno for further information, and he found out that the President needed help with getting Sephiroth's side of the story; the Meteor incident and his past crimes. Cloud agreed to it and ended the call.

He groaned again as he got out of bed, got dressed and picked up his PHS and Buster Sword. It seemed that he was never going to get a day off. With a heavy sigh he left his house, started up his motorcycle and drove to Shinra Headquarters.

Cloud arrived at Shinra Headquarters in record time. He parked his motorcycle and headed for the main entrance, noticing the man with spiked red hair wearing a blue suit who was waiting there, occasionally tapping a metal rod against the wall. He looked up as Cloud approached, and the two exchanged a handshake.

"It's nice to catch up with you when we're not at each other's throats." Reno chuckled lightly. Cloud nodded in response, then the two went into the headquarters, the redheaded Turk explaining the President's requests in more detail whilst they headed up to the main office.

When they got there, the two sat down opposite the President's desk just as the President himself strode in. Several times he had to stop to flick his long fringe out of his eyes. He brushed down his immaculate white suit before shaking hands with both Reno and Cloud. There was a brief narrowed glance exchanged between Cloud and the President before he sat behind his desk and introduced himself. He laced his fingers together.

"I'm guessing that Reno's already given you the news, so we can keep this brief. Cloud, I need you to speak to Sephiroth and get the full story of what he's done. Jenova, Meteor, the mass killings... everything." Cloud nodded and began to explain a few things, but before he could say much more, the President held up his hand. "I have a few meetings to go to, so you'll have to tell me later." He stood up and left.

Reno and Cloud also stood up and left, but they went towards the elevator. The redheaded Turk handed Cloud a clipboard and a pen. "So here's what the President wants you to do. Go to the containment room on the 54th floor, and one of my colleagues will let you in. When you're there, I want you to ask Sephiroth about everything and note it all down, no matter what he says. Even if it makes no sense at all." Cloud nodded, took the clipboard and pen and stepped into the elevator. Reno stepped in after him and pressed the button to go to the 54th floor.

When the elevator stopped, Reno stepped out and walked briskly down the corridor, with Cloud following after him. They stopped just outside a large metal door, and Reno went away to speak to someone. He returned with a young woman dressed in a red blouse, a white lab coat, a black pencil skirt and a pair of black shoes.

She smiled warmly and shook Cloud's hand. "Good to meet you, Cloud. I'm Dr. Sky Randere, and I'm watching over our... 'patient'." Cloud felt a chill down his spine from the way the doctor said the word patient. He followed her to the metal door, hearing the beeps from the scanners as they validated Dr. Randere's identity. The door opened with a soft hiss. Cloud stepped inside. Dr. Randere was about to follow, but Cloud told her he wanted to do this alone. She hesitated before stepping back outside, the door closing.

Cloud took a few deep breaths before sitting down on a chair beside the bed in the room, where he noticed a silver-haired man was lying, his eyes closed lightly and his skin pale. The blonde man pulled the top off the pen and rested the clipboard on his knee. "Sephiroth? I need to ask you a few questions. I'm Cloud Strife."

The silver-haired man stirred slightly, his eyes opening a little. He sat up uneasily. "Cloud Strife... that's not... familiar." There was a slight quiver in his voice.

Cloud made some brief notes on the clipboard. "I remember you, Sephiroth. We were partners once." Sephiroth shook his head slightly in response. "Hmm, alright. What do you remember about Jenova?" Cloud held the pen above the clipboard and the other man said he remembered nothing of it, but he muttered something under his breath. When asked to repeat it, he said it didn't matter. Cloud made some notes.

He asked about Meteor and Sephiroth's past crimes, but every time the silver-haired man shook his head and said he remembered nothing. Cloud noted everything down before he sighed, stood up, walked to the door, pressed a button and left the room. He told Dr. Randere that everything had gone well before he went back to the elevator to meet up with Reno.

The doors slid open just as the elevator reached the top floor. Cloud stepped out and noticed that Reno was already there. He handed the clipboard to the redheaded Turk, who looked over the notes before sighing and slapping the clipboard against his face.

"This makes no sense at all." Reno re-read the notes. "Man, none of this makes sense! Exactly the same as what I, President Rufus, Elena and a few others in HQ got!" He sighed heavily. "I really don't know what Sephiroth's up to, but it ain't funny. You saw what he did, right?" Cloud nodded, and Reno looked over the notes once more. "He's denied it all up to now, so I want to try a different theory. I'll contact someone who's not connected with Shinra in any way to ask him the same questions. If we get the same back, we might be able to rethink this. If not, we need to prepare for the worst."

Cloud shook his head. "From the way he responded, it seemed like he genuinely didn't remember anything, but I'm not ready to take that chance yet. I saw what he was like. He can't just suddenly forget." He slapped a palm against his forehead before saying goodbye to Reno. It was time to think about the situation. He stepped in the elevator, but Reno pushed the door open.

"Cloud, if there's any new developments, I'll call you. Keep your PHS handy." The redheaded Turk stepped back and the doors slid shut.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter**____**2**_

Cloud returned home straight after the meeting, his mind in a state of confusion. How could Sephiroth have forgotten the transgressions he'd committed in such a short space of time? Was this amnesia genuine, or was it all part of another plan? He tried not to think too much of it and went to visit his long-time friend Tifa Lockheart. Perhaps her company would help him make some sense of this, or give him a bit of a distraction.

He caught her just as she was about to go shopping, and she allowed him to join her. The two walked past the shops of Midgar, stopping periodically to browse the items in the windows. Tifa seemed rather excited about picking things out, and most of the time Cloud simply nodded and agreed with her. Just as they stopped outside a shop named 'Aerdan's Apparel', Tifa stopped and looked at Cloud.

"Is something on your mind?" she asked, gently placing a hand on Cloud's cheek. "You're not being yourself at the moment." He sighed and told her about the meeting with Reno and President Rufus, and that he'd had to interrogate Sephiroth with little success. She nodded and was about to say something, but Cloud held up his hand.

"Reno said he'd call me if they found out anything else. This is bothering me, Tifa. Why would Sephiroth suddenly remember nothing of the things he did in such a short space of time?"

Tifa pouted a little. "I'm not sure. Knowing what he's like... this is probably part of another plan of his." Her voice grew icy. "Even if it is genuine, I'll never forgive him. He murdered my father!" She clenched her fists and trembled with rage. Cloud gently pulled her into a hug.

"None of us would be able to completely forgive him. But look at it this way... if this _is_ genuine, and the memories don't come back... he _might_ just be able to start fresh. And even if his memory did come back, as long as it didn't send him back down that path... well, he may be able to lead an almost-normal life."

Tifa made a noise of protest and thumped Cloud in the stomach. "How can you think he'd change for the better? He's a cold, heartless murderer! He burned down my home! He killed Papa!" She shrieked and tried to pull away, but Cloud tried to calm her.

"I know, Tifa... but no amount of bloodshed is gonna bring your father back. Also, we can't just look at this one way." He shook his head as he spoke. Tifa was still trembling, but she had calmed down a little. She nodded weakly and looked up at Cloud, her eyes shining with tears.

"Let's not go on about this... it hurts me to think about it." Cloud nodded in response and hugged Tifa again. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and the two resumed browsing the rest of the shops. They seemed to enjoy it less than before. Perhaps Cloud shouldn't have brought up the subject. Then again, if he hadn't, Tifa probably would have guessed.

The duo returned to Tifa's house just as it started to get dark, both carrying several shopping bags. Tifa gave Cloud a gentle kiss on the cheek, thanking him for helping her out. He chuckled lightly and said he was always glad to help out his long-time friend. Tifa opened her mouth as if to say something, but Cloud's PHS gave off an ear-splitting ring. He groaned and checked who was calling. The frequency on-screen was not one he recognised, but he answered anyway.

"Cloud Strife speaking. Who is this?" His tone was businesslike, but the only responses he received were a few grunts and a brief snatch of heavy breathing. He inquired again about the caller's identity, but he got nothing in reply. Just before he was about to hang up, someone spoke, and it wasn't a voice Cloud recognised.

"Listen, Strife. I've heard about what you're trying to do. I won't let you stop Sephiroth from resurrecting Mother." The voice was cold and harsh, and despite his hardened resolve, Cloud felt his heart pounding.

"He doesn't remember anything. You're wasting your time." Cloud heard the slight quivering in his voice, and hoped the caller wouldn't pick up on it.

"Everything's already planned out. A friend of mine is going to remind him when he visits Shinra HQ. Reno already sent for someone not related to Shinra in any way."

"You won't win. I'm not letting this happen again."

"Really. Let me give you a piece of advice, Strife. Don't try anything funny." After that, the line went dead. He looked across at Tifa, and the two exchanged worried glances. He then briefly told her what the call had been about, and her eyes widened in shock. She rushed towards Cloud and gripped his arms, looking up at him.

"You can't let them do it. Cloud, you have to warn Reno. I don't want anyone else going the same way as Papa did, and I'm not having another Meteor incident."

Cloud nodded and smiled lightly. "I'll let him know." He took out his PHS and punched in Reno's frequency.

Meanwhile, at Shinra HQ, Reno was waiting for this mysterious new arrival he knew nothing at all about. Was it really wise to trust this situation with a complete stranger? He tapped the metal rod impatiently against the wall and sighed heavily.

"You must be Reno." The voice was behind him. Reno jumped slightly and turned around. He noticed that the new arrival was a man around twenty-five years of age, wearing a skin-tight leather suit. He had a strange metal device strapped to his left arm. Reno took special notice to the man's crop of short silver-coloured hair and his green cat-like eyes. He felt his throat going dry. Questions whirled in his mind. Did Sephiroth have any siblings or other family members that he wasn't aware of? Reno could only nod in response to the man's statement.

"I believe we have some... business, so to speak. You said you needed help getting the full story?"

"Oh yes, I think-" Reno had only just managed to speak when his PHS rang. He ushered the other man out of the room and answered.

"Cloud, this isn't really a good time! I've only just got someone in here to speak with Sephiroth. He was the only one brave enough to take it on."

The redheaded Turk picked up a sigh. "Reno. Listen, you can't let them do it." Now he wasn't sure what to do. He asked why, and Cloud explained. "Whoever you've got there, he's not doing it for our benefit. Only for Jenova's. We're talkin' about Meteor all over again."

"You mean that I've just caused-" Reno cut himself off when he realised the other man could still be there. He lowered his voice. "I could potentially be dooming us all over again?" Cloud answered with a simple 'yes'. "Right. I'll have to get him out, then you'll have to come to Shinra HQ as soon as you can. We need a Plan B." The call ended, and Reno put his PHS away. He called the other man back inside.

"Sorry about that. Business call."

The other man gave Reno a sceptical look. "I see. So, where were we?"

"Ah, actually, there's been a change of plan." Reno paused to think about how to phrase his way of telling the other man to get out. "That call I just had, I actually have to attend to some business in Costa del Sol. That does mean I'm going to have to ask you to leave and come back some other time."

The look of scepticism was still there. "You told me you were off work." The other man rolled his eyes.

"I'm really sorry, it was very short notice. We'll pick this up later." Reno gently pushed the other man in the direction of the way out. He hesitated a moment, but he eventually walked out, shooting a cold backwards stare in Reno's direction as he did so.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter**____**3**_

Cloud had just finished parking his motorcycle outside Shinra HQ and was about to head inside when he caught sight of the man with short silver hair dressed in leather walking out with a look of anger on his face. Was that the 'friend' the unknown caller had mentioned, or one of Sephiroth's relations? He couldn't be sure, but he assumed it was the mysterious friend. He headed into the building and saw that Reno was leaning against the wall, looking rather pale.

"What happened? Who was that guy who just walked out then?"

Reno took a few deep breaths before facing Cloud. "I don't recognise him, but he looks similar to Sephiroth in a few ways. The guy scares me. I didn't show it to him though... I don't think."

Cloud shook his head. "Let's try not to think about him for a few moments. You said before that we need some sort of Plan B. What were you thinking of?" Reno explained a few ideas, but Cloud only seemed interested in one – they let Sephiroth out of Shinra HQ and allow him to lead a fairly normal life, but he would need to be supervised. Just in case, Reno added. Cloud nodded.

"Alright, well, I'll let Rude and Elena know that we'll need a few guards. Cloud, you go to Dr. Randere and tell her to let him out, and if she says anything, say that Reno sent you."

"Right..." Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Who'll be his supervisor?"

"I was hoping that you'd do it, but if you don't want to..."

Cloud held up one hand. "No, it's fine. I'll do it." He paused. "Which way was it to the room Sephiroth's being kept in again?" Reno relayed the details, and Cloud went up in the elevator, back to the containment room on the 54th floor and Dr. Randere's office.

"Mr. Strife? I wasn't expecting you back here again. Reno told me that someone else was coming up here." Dr. Randere said as Cloud walked up to the door of the containment room. She whirled around just as he reached the door, placing her hands on her hips. "You can't go in there unless you have clearance."

"There's been a change of plan, Dr. Randere. I need to get Sephiroth out. Reno's orders – if we don't move him somewhere else there's a chance we could end up with another Meteor incident on our hands." When Dr. Randere asked why, Cloud told her about the strange man that Reno had encountered and the bizarre, threatening PHS call he had received. She nodded and opened the door to the containment room. Cloud hurried inside and noticed that the bed was empty. His heart thudded in his chest. Had those other people got to Sephiroth first?

"What's going on here? Was Sephiroth already moved out, or..." Cloud began, but he was cut off when he saw that two members of Shinra medical staff walked out of a small sideroom, and Sephiroth was following unsteadily behind them. He was wearing the same Black Cape as Cloud remembered, although he was holding one hand to his head at irregular intervals.

"This isn't any more questioning... Cloud Strife, was it?" There was still some confusion in Sephiroth's voice.

"No. No more questioning." Cloud paused. _For__now._ "Actually, I'm here to tell you that you'll be going elsewhere. Reno organised it, and it's to..." He paused again. How was he going to explain its purpose without inadvertently triggering anything potentially deadly?

"Hmm? It's to what?" Sephiroth prompted.

"It's to keep you safe." Cloud sighed an internal sigh of relief, even though Sephiroth prompted him for further information about these arrangements to 'keep him safe'. "Well, safe from people who might think you've done something you don't remember doing." Still Sephiroth prompted further. Cloud groaned softly. "Look, we're doing this for your benefit. Trust me, you don't have to know the details, but it'll work out."

"I don't even know why I'm here." Sephiroth paused and pressed one palm to his forehead, swaying a little on his feet. His eyes flickered a moment. "What is this Meteor people keep mentioning, anyway?"

Cloud's eyes widened slightly. "N-nothing important. Listen, the sooner we get you out of here, the sooner we can stop worrying." He took hold of Sephiroth's wrist and led him out of the room, where Dr. Randere was signing some papers on her clipboard. She waved the two of them on, then Cloud called the elevator, getting inside it whilst also pulling Sephiroth in, and pressing the button to send it down to the ground floor.

A young blonde woman dressed in a blue suit was waiting for Cloud and Sephiroth when the elevator reached the ground floor. Cloud recognised her as Elena. She ushered the two outside quickly, not wanting to risk panic spreading throughout Shinra HQ. Cloud noticed that there was a white van waiting close to the main doors, but its windows were blacked out.

"Reno went ahead to double-check the security on the new area. I'll take Sephiroth from here. Cloud, meet us at this address." Elena handed Cloud a scrap of paper with the words 'Sector 4 Slums, Gamma Building, No. 29' scrawled on it. She then gently led Sephiroth towards the van and seated him inside it. Cloud jumped on his motorcycle and kick-started the engine, driving out of the Shinra HQ parking bay just before the van did.

The two vehicles remained close for the journey, but even though they were going at a faster speed than the other road traffic, some people seemed to pay attention to the van, since the blacked-out windows seemed suspicious. Elena had instructed Sephiroth to keep his head down so that he couldn't be seen whilst her bald-headed colleague Rude drove towards the agreed address.

Everyone arrived at the Gamma Building in Sector 4 within fifteen minutes of leaving from Shinra HQ. Cloud parked his motorcycle in an alley next to the building whilst Rude parked the van in front of it. Elena emerged from the van, ushering Sephiroth out as she did so. Rude climbed out the opposite side, and he helped Elena. Cloud, meanwhile, was checking the tyres on his motorcycle when he felt something cold touch him on the back of his neck. He shuddered slightly and one hand closed around the hilt of his Buster Sword.

"You didn't really listen before, did you?" Cloud recognised the voice from the threatening PHS call. The cold thing touched his neck again, and he turned around slowly to see that it was a gunblade. He couldn't make out who was pointing it at him though. He held one hand up whilst the other one remained gripping the hilt of his sword.

"I warned you not to try anything funny, Strife. I'll give you one last chance. As I said before, you can't stop Sephiroth from resurrecting Mother, and we will remind him about it if he's forgotten." Cloud closed his eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath.

"Who's 'we'?" he asked as he opened his eyes. There was no gunblade aimed at him, but he felt the cold touch on the back of his neck again.

"You'll find out when the time comes. If I decide to leave you alive." There was a peal of chilling laughter, then silence. Cloud looked around, but he couldn't see anyone. He sighed and headed out of the alley, where Reno was waiting for him with his arms folded.

"Surely it doesn't take you that long to park your bike, Cloud." Reno snorted a little.

Cloud sighed. "I know, but someone was in the alley. I didn't know who it was, but I recognised the voice from a threatening PHS call I'd received before you called me to Shinra HQ."

"Oh?" Reno leaned in closer. "What did they want?"

"I don't know, but I think they want another Meteor incident. They said that I can't stop Sephiroth from resurrecting Mother, and that they'll remind him about it since I told them that he'd forgotten."

Reno shook his head. "We can't let that happen, no matter what we have to do. We have to keep Sephiroth well hidden, and-"

Cloud cut him short. "I think they already know he's here. The one who got me in the alley... they knew he'd been brought here."

"Son of a Chocobo! That means we'll have to relocate again!" Reno was about to tell Rude and Elena, but Cloud told him that they should all stay here and keep out of sight. Perhaps these mysterious people would leave them alone then. Reno sighed and nodded. "I'll call President Rufus, tell him to send a few more guards. We can't take any chances."

"Right." Cloud nodded in response and went into the building.

The alternative arrangements that Reno had made were not particularly first-class, but at least it was better than the containment room in Shinra HQ. All the basic amenities were there, and there were security cameras in the corners of most of the rooms. There was also an intercom system installed. Cloud went inside, and noticed that Sephiroth was sat on the sofa, just finishing off a glass of juice. He sat down next to the other man and the two exchanged a brief glance. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"It feels strange..." Sephiroth began, his voice trailing off slightly.

"Strange how?" Cloud turned to face him.

"Do you know what it feels like... to not be sure of who you are any more?" The question sparked a few odd memories in Cloud's mind. He remembered about his former colleague Zack Fair, and that he had basically lived _his___life, only coming across the truth when he and Tifa had fallen into the Lifestream. During that time he'd had no recollection of who he really was.

Cloud could only nod weakly. "It turned out that before I knew the truth, I was actually living out my late friend's life." He looked down at his feet. "Not that it matters now."

Sephiroth let out a long sigh. "Well, I don't really know which part of me is real. Some of my memories tell me that I was both an admired and feared member of SOLDIER First Class, but others suggest that I kill others and destroy things for the sake of something that I referred to as 'mother'. Which one is really me?"

Cloud bit his lip and thought a moment. Both parts were true, but remembering the Nibelheim incident made him realise how easily Sephiroth could misinterpret things. He would have to be careful about how he answered this. "To be honest I'm not entirely sure myself. I think it'd be best to not think about either of those things and start fresh." Sephiroth had a look of confusion on his face, but he nodded and said he'd try. He fiddled with the empty glass in his hands.

Reno entered the room just as Cloud stood up. "Alright, the guards are on their way. Whoever those guys are, they won't be getting us." The blonde man was about to head out, but Reno blocked his progress. "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to visit my friend, Reno. I'll be back in a bit." Reno nodded and let Cloud pass. The blonde man had had an awkward feeling when Sephiroth brought up the whole thing about not knowing who you were. He needed time to think. Maybe he could visit Tifa, but he wasn't sure. Perhaps it was best not to tell her about this. She was already apprehensive.


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter**____**4**_

Cloud had decided to go and visit his other friend Barret Wallace, whom he hadn't known for as long as Tifa, but the two of them got along well. Barret let the blonde man into his house and the two caught up on what they had been doing lately, but Cloud mentioned nothing of the most recent events. Barret told him about what he and his daughter Marlene had been doing, and it sounded like they'd had fun. Cloud, on the other hand, didn't have as much to tell, but he said that Tifa was doing fine.

"Well that's jes' great. Least Tifa's alright." Barret was about to say more, but he noticed that Cloud wasn't really paying attention. "Yo, somethin' on yer mind, Cloud?"

The blonde man hesitated. "Yeah." Barret prompted him to tell what it was. "Just.. don't tell Tifa. She's not keen on this at all." Cloud went on to explain the recent events, all about the Shinra finding that Sephiroth was still alive, that he had no memory of anything he'd done, and that there could be a chance someone could make him remember anything and that the Meteor incident could happen all over again. He also mentioned the arrangements that Reno had made.

"Damn! Ya better hope them Turks can keep it under wraps. I don't trust 'em, but it looks like that's all we got. An' you make sure that Sephiroth don't go down that road again." Barret pointed at Cloud as he spoke.

"I'm not sure, Barret. He'll mention stuff to me and it'll bring back stuff I don't want to remember. Sometimes I think we're in the same boat here." Cloud sighed. "I came here not just to see you, but to think about some other things as well."

"Yeah, no prob. Take yer time. S'pose we don't 'ave ta worry too much." Barret sat Cloud down on a chair, then he pulled up another chair and sat opposite him. "If it's any help at all, ya can tell me."

Meanwhile, back at the Gamma Building, Sephiroth was just finished with eating a sandwich and was about to put the plate in the sink when he heard a noise that sounded like breaking glass. It was nearby, and as he scanned the room, he saw nothing.

"What the hell was that?" called a voice behind him, "Maybe we _should_ go somewhere else!" Sephiroth looked behind him and noticed that Reno was there, his eyes narrowed in anger. "Did you hear that, Sephiroth? I think someone's up to no good!"

Something impacted the window pane near to where the silver-haired man was standing, shattering it and blowing shards of glass inwards. Sephiroth instinctively covered his head and dropped to the floor as the shards rained on both him and the floor. Reno pulled the jacket of his suit up against his face and ducked.

"What _was_ that?" Reno brushed off a few stray pieces of glass and looked out of the broken window. Sephiroth got up off the floor and brushed himself down, picking out a few shards from his hair. There was a crackle coming from a large speaker on the wall beside the door.

"Reno! Reno, you there?" It was Rude speaking over the intercom system. Reno hurried over to the speaker and pressed the button to speak.

"Copy that, Rude. What's going on? We've got a smashed window up here."

The intercom speaker crackled again. "Looks like two guys are trying to break in. Five guards have already been taken out, three of them injured, one fatality. We need to-" Rude's voice was cut off by a loud crackling.

Reno felt his heart pounding. "Rude! What do those guys look like?" The only response he received was a loud crackling. "Rude, please respond."

The intercom still crackled, but Reno could make out a few words. "Black leather... silver hair... ...green... cat-like eyes..." The redheaded Turk panicked. Cloud was right - they had been followed. And the man he'd had contact with back at Shinra HQ... he matched Rude's description of the assailants. Was he involved as well?

"Wait, that sounds like..." Reno paused. "Rude! Keep your guard up! I think that those guys are the ones who are trying to make the Meteor incident happen again!"

"Reno... we need to- Ugh!" Reno heard a sickening crack over the intercom. His heart thudded in his chest.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Sephiroth asked from behind him.

Reno took a few deep breaths before he spoke. "Looks like there are some people coming after you." He took hold of Sephiroth's wrist. "We have to get out of here." The silver-haired man hesitated and tried to pull away. "_Now!_" Reno opened the door with his free hand and yanked Sephiroth out.

"What do they want with me?" The silver-haired man raised an eyebrow. Before Reno could answer, distant shouts could be heard. No distinct voices could be made out. They were about to head away from the room when Reno's PHS rang. He quickly answered it.

"I know it's you, Reno. I know you're trying to stop Sephiroth from fulfilling Mother's doctrine. If I were you, I'd give up. You won't succeed, because we will stop you." The redheaded Turk recognised the voice. It was the man who had been at Shinra HQ earlier. He was about to protest, but the line had gone dead. His heart began to thud again.

Sephiroth was about to repeat his question, but Reno held up his hand. "They want to convince you to do terrible things. We have to get the hell out of here." The two men headed for a flight of stairs leading down and hurried as quickly as they can. Whilst they made their escape, Reno was frantically punching in what he thought was Cloud's frequency on his PHS. He pressed the call button and waited.

"C'mon Cloud, pick up..."

Cloud had just finished talking to Barret about what was on his mind when he heard a dreadful ringing sound. He checked his PHS but it wasn't ringing. Barret pulled out his own PHS and saw it was his that was ringing. He answered it after four rings.

"Barret Wallace. The hell do ya want?" Barret heard Reno's voice over the other end, apologising frantically since he'd entered the wrong PHS frequency. "Never mind, Cloud's wi' me right now. I'll pass ya over." He handed the PHS to Cloud. "S'Reno on the line. Seems urgent."

Cloud took the PHS from Barret and asked what was going on. Reno explained everything as quickly as he could, and asked if the blonde man could come as soon as possible. Cloud said he would and ended the call, handing the PHS back to Barret.

"Gotta run. Reno needs help." Cloud stood up and hurried towards the front door, leaving before Barret could say goodbye to him. He jumped on his motorcycle, started the engine and sped off in the direction of the Gamma Building.

The speed limit on the roads didn't matter to Cloud. He kept the rev counter firmly in the red, not caring that he was doing over 100mph on a 30mph speed limit road. He had to get there as fast as he could, no matter what the cost. He'd rather have a temporary driving ban than have to stop Meteor all over again.

The moment he was outside the Gamma Building, he slowed down quickly before he slammed the foot-brake on and felt himself jolt forward from the sudden stop. There was no sign of Reno and Sephiroth. He left the engine ticking over whilst he jumped off the motorcycle and headed inside. Perhaps this was a bad idea. He heard the unknown voice's threats replaying themselves in his mind. The blonde man hurried up one flight of stairs when he heard a loud click behind him.

"You again, Strife? I gave you a chance, and look what you've done." Cloud heard a tutting sound before he felt something cold and metal press against the back of his head. "I should just kill you now."

Cloud's hand closed over the hilt of his Buster Sword. "I won't let you!" He whirled round and drew the weapon, swinging it downwards. There was a loud clang as it clashed with another weapon – a gunblade. He pushed forward to try and topple the wielder, but they didn't budge.

"Reno and Sephiroth won't make it far. My friend is already after them." The owner of the voice came out of the shadows and Cloud noticed he was dressed in skin-tight black leather. He had green cat-like eyes and silver hair that came almost to his shoulders. His side fringe hung over one eye. He aimed the gunblade at the blonde man, and Cloud rolled out of the way just in time as the shot discharged.

"It's no use trying to go after them, Strife! You won't make it!" the man called, but Cloud was already rushing up the stairs, not wanting to be delayed any longer. He quickly called Reno's PHS as he went up.

"I'm on my way!" he shouted as Reno answered. He ended the call and kept going up the stairs. On the way he noticed the man he had seen going out of Shinra HQ some time ago heading in the same direction. This wouldn't bode well if he got to Reno and Sephiroth before Cloud did. The blonde man picked up speed and caught up to the other man, swinging the hilt of his sword at him, knocking him out.

"Cloud! Where are you?" The shout was faint to the blonde man, but he recognised that it was Reno. He picked up speed again.

"On my way, Reno! Hurry!" Cloud reached a small corridor after another flight of stairs, and he stopped a moment to catch his breath. It probably wasn't a good idea to stop, since he felt his legs starting to ache. He wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead just as he heard two sets of footsteps bounding towards him. Cloud looked up and noticed Reno and Sephiroth running over. They stopped to catch their breath.

"My motorbike's outside. I'll take Sephiroth from here." Cloud paused for breath. "Reno, you let Elena and Rude know." The redheaded Turk nodded whilst Cloud took hold of Sephiroth's wrist and began to lead him back down the way the blonde man had come alone.

The two bounded down the stairs as quickly as they could manage, just short of stumbling. Several times Cloud complained of the lack of elevators. Just as they rounded a corner on the staircase, the blonde man saw the other silver-haired man with the gunblade he had eluded before.

"If you have any sense, Strife, you'll let me take Sephiroth from here." He motioned with the gunblade.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through me." Cloud spat, readying his Buster Sword. At the same time, Sephiroth withdrew his katana.

"I may not know quite who I am, but I can remember a few sword moves." Cloud turned around and shook his head, but Sephiroth would not back down. He shoved Cloud into the wall and charged at the other silver-haired man, weapons clashing with a loud reverberating clang. The force behind the blow caused the assailant to topple down the stairs, and Sephiroth only just backed up in time. Cloud groaned and rubbed his shoulder where it had impacted the wall.

"That would've only slowed him down! Let's keep going!" Cloud ignored the pain and pulled Sephiroth down the stairs, and the two kept running. They heard footsteps coming up towards them. Cloud halted quickly, but Sephiroth accidentally pushed him as he stopped, causing the blonde man to overbalance. He made a frantic scrabble for the wall in an attempt to keep himself upright, but he ended up tumbling down the stairs. Sephiroth hurried after him.

"Had a nice trip, Strife?" Cloud knew who it was. He was almost on his feet before Sephiroth pushed past him, knocking him down again. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, looking across at the man in the Black Cape. He was only just aware of the gunblade aimed at his head.

"Go!" Cloud ordered, pushing Sephiroth in the direction of a downwards flight of stairs. Several shots rang out, one ricocheting off the wall, one blasting a hole in a stair. The blonde man kept Sephiroth in front of him and took a backwards glance to see where the man wielding the gunblade was. He was too close. Cloud was about to run back to knock him out, but the other man fired a shot from the gunblade that impacted Cloud in the shoulder. He gritted his teeth to hold back the cry of pain. His Buster Sword seemed too heavy to wield, so he put it away, clamped his free hand to his shoulder and hurried back downstairs.

Sephiroth had stopped a few floors down when he realised that he and Cloud had been separated. He looked across at the upwards flight of stairs and saw that Cloud was half-running, half-stumbling down, his hand covering his shoulder. There was blood running down his hand and his arm. He asked about what happened, but Cloud shook his head and told him to keep going.

"You know how to ride a motorbike, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked just as they reached the front door of the Gamma Building. The man in the Black Cape shook his head. "Right, well you're just gonna have to learn as we go. My shoulder hurts too much, I can't ride it properly." They hurried outside and made for Cloud's motorcycle. The engine was still ticking over, just as the blonde man had left it. As quickly as they could, they jumped on the bike, Sephiroth at the front, Cloud holding on behind him. The blonde man quickly shouted some instructions and the motorcycle sped away. The other silver-haired man had just got outside and was firing off a few shots with his gunblade. The men on the motorcycle instinctively ducked.

"Where are we going?" Sephiroth asked as he looked around as much as he could whilst he kept his eyes on the road.

"Go that way!" Cloud ordered, pointing to a right-hand turn. The man in the Black Cape complied, but the motorcycle leaned dangerously over, almost throwing the two to the pavement. They heard another motorcycle engine behind them. The blonde man took a quick glance behind and saw that the silver-haired man with the gunblade was keeping up the chase.

"We have to lose him! That guy's still chasing!" The blonde man directed Sephiroth to take a left. Several gunshots whined past them.

"Which way now?" Cloud told him to take a sharp left. More gunshots. One ricocheted off the motorcycle, almost hitting the blonde man in the backside. He shouted a few more directions, but the pursuer was relentless. The two had to duck as several more shots whined over their heads, and they almost crashed into a car going the other way. Luckily Sephiroth had managed to swerve out of the way in time, but the motorcycle skidded to a halt. Cloud shouted frantically to get them moving again, but the engine had cut out. The blonde man looked over the other man's shoulder at the motorcycle's gauges and noticed the fuel gauge was empty. _Damn,__why__did__I__leave__the__engine__running__earlier_, he thought.

There was a screeching of brakes and the sound of an engine being turned off. Cloud and Sephiroth looked towards where the sound had come from and noticed that it was the one who had been pursuing them. His gunblade was aimed at the blonde man.

"Back away from him, Strife." Cloud stood firm and his hand closed over the hilt of his Buster Sword. "I said _back__away__from__him!_" The blonde man still stood firm. He noticed Sephiroth drawing his weapon and quickly stopped him. He thrust a piece of paper into his hand.

"Sephiroth, I need you to go to the place on that paper." The man in the Black Cape opened the paper and read the address silently. He put it away and was about to draw his weapon again, but he was stopped once more. Cloud pushed him in the direction away from the man with the gunblade.

"What are you-" Sephiroth began, but Cloud shushed him.

"Saving your life. Go!" The blonde man drew his Buster Sword but had to rest it against the ground for a moment when his injured shoulder sent a pang of pain through him. The man in the Black Cape was hesitating. "_Go!_" Cloud made a gesture with his head before taking his sword in both hands. Sephiroth took one, two, three steps back before turning around and beginning to run from the scene, heading towards the address he had been given.

"A very brave action... _very_ brave indeed. Unfortunately you're just delaying the inevitable, Strife. No matter _what_ you do, and _how_ you do it, you can't stop Mother's resurrection."

Meanwhile, a few streets down, Sephiroth was still heading towards the address that Cloud had instructed him to go to. To him, it seemed like he'd been running forever. He noticed that as he got close to people, they cowered as he approached, fleeing as he got closer. He didn't fully understand why though; none of the few patchy memories he had seemed to yield any reason.

"_You!_" screamed a voice behind him. "You destroyed everything I cared about!" He turned around just in time to be struck across the side of his face, his head snapping to the side. The voice seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember...

"What are you doi-" he began, but he was struck again.

"You _bastard!_Don't even try to deny it!" Sephiroth blinked rapidly and focused on the owner of the voice. Her face was familiar, but her eyes even more so. "You burned down my home... you killed my friends... you murdered Papa!" Memories flooded back into his mind – the fateful Nibelheim incident, five and a half years ago. A simple investigation that had gone horribly wrong. He'd found out more about his own past then... and how the knowledge had changed him was terrifying to behold. He'd changed so suddenly... so quickly... so drastically. And there, amidst it all, the woman who was confronting him... her eyes burning with the same promise of revenge now as he had seen all that time ago. He saw how he wrestled with her back then, how he dealt her a wound that could have ended her life. Whether it was who he really was... that was a question that could be answered later. He couldn't deny that this had all happened, and she had every right to be angry with him.

"The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because Cloud told me that no amount of bloodshed can bring Papa back..." Her voice was choked up, and Sephiroth wasn't sure how to react. Too much information at once. None of it making much sense. He let out a sigh.

"I don't deny anything about what you've said." She looked up at him, their eyes meeting for a brief second before his gaze turned away from her. "But this... is this... me? Is this who I really am?" She tried to get him to look at her again, and as she did so and their eyes met once more, her name came to mind. "Tifa... who... who am I really?"

Tifa wasn't sure whether to feel angry at him or sorry for him. "I-I... whenever I look at you, I see... I see my home burning... and you... you looking up before... leaving... as if you didn't care..." Her anger came back to her. "And you _never_ cared, did you?"

Sephiroth quickly turned away. "I should go. I promised Cloud I'd meet him somewhere." He began to walk away, but Tifa ran up to him and grabbed hold of his wrist, pulling him back a little.

"You stay away from Cloud... you're not taking away the only friend I have left from my childhood..."

The man in the Black Cape shook his head. "I'm not. He says he's trying to save my life, and Reno said that it was to stop people from convincing me to do terrible things..."

Tifa snorted at his explanation, but she let go of him and allowed him to go on. "If I find that Cloud has so much as a scratch on him, I'm holding you personally responsible. Now get out of my sight." The man in the Black Cape said nothing and went on his way.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter**____**5**_

Cloud faced his opponent with a narrowed gaze, not flinching even as he heard the click of the gunblade being armed.

"You've done well to get this far, Strife. But now it's over." The man smirked as his finger squeezed the trigger. Cloud only just ducked in time to evade the shot, which, if it had hit, would have killed him there and then.

"This is far from over!" The blonde man gave an indignant cry and charged forward, swinging his sword down. Weapons clashed loudly and the two combatants stepped back, breathing heavily. Cloud was first to move again, swinging his sword at the other man's feet, but he jumped to evade.

"We'll see... we'll see just who gets where." A few shots whined past Cloud, and as he was about to ready his sword for another swing, his injured shoulder sent another wave of pain through his system. The blonde man gritted his teeth and had to rest his weapon on the ground. The other man saw his chance and swiped with the gunblade. Cloud couldn't dodge in time and ended up with a long cut in his side.

"This won't end well. For you." Cloud injected some confidence in his tone, despite the fact that his adversary was rather intimidating. He shunned the pain from his injuries and slashed at the other man, opening a nasty gash in his leg. The silver-haired man was forced to drop to the ground to stem the bleeding, and the blonde man took that as an opportunity to escape. He needed to keep an eye on Sephiroth, no matter what. Without any further hesitation, he headed towards the address that he had sent the man in the Black Cape to some time earlier.

Meanwhile, Sephiroth had only just made it to the arranged address. He took a minute to catch his breath before scanning the area. Was that man chasing him earlier one of the ones who wanted to convince him to do terrible things? A peculiar thought entered his mind. _Perhaps__I__was__meant__to__do__them._ Where was this coming from?

The door to the building opened, and the man in the Black Cape noticed that the one who had opened the door was a tall, muscular man with one of his arms replaced by a gun-arm. He seemed familiar, yet strange. _I__recognise__him__from__somewhere,__I__confronted__him,__but__I__don't__know__when,__where__or__even__why._

Barret noticed Sephiroth standing there. "Yo! Whaddya think you're doin', standin' there? I've still not gotten over what ya did, but Cloud says ya don't remember it." He pointed his gun-arm at the other man.

Sephiroth stood his ground. "Cloud sent me here." He raised an eyebrow at Barret's statement. "What I did? Ever since I woke up in... in that room... it's been questions. Constant questions, about things that... that I don't remember. You aren't planning to question me as well, are you?"

"Damn, I got every reason to shoot ya if I wanted to! 'Sides, jes' because you don't remember it doesn't mean that it weren't your fault! That bloody Jenova whatsit, Meteor, you killin' a good friend o' mine an' Cloud's..." Barret kept his gun-arm aimed at Sephiroth even when the other man dropped to his knees, pressing his hands to his temples.

"Barret, what are you doing?" shouted a voice. The large man looked across at where the voice had come from.

"Cloud! Look... ya know, this guy, well..." Barret began. He lowered his gun-arm. "He was responsible for everythin', and damn, I wanna shoot the bastard!" Cloud shook his head before placing a hand over the wound in his side, gritting his teeth.

"Look, if we remind him, it'll probably make him go that way again. We'll be no different from those other guys who were after him." The blonde man was about to say more when Sephiroth tapped him on the shoulder.

"All of this... Cloud, this one says I did it. I remember that I was involved, but..." He trailed off. Cloud told him not to think about it too much. Barret was about to voice a protest but the blonde man hushed him. The three went into the building.

After Cloud had made them all drinks and sandwiches, they sat down to discuss their next course of action. With these mysterious figures wanting Meteor to happen again, the fate of the Planet now rested with Cloud and Barret for the meantime.

"The hell are we gonna do now?" Barret clenched his fist. "We ain't just gonna sit here an' let those morons get us, are we?"

"Quiet!" Cloud rounded on the large man. "I'm thinking." He stood up and paced agitatedly around the room, occasionally stopping to slap a hand to his forehead and groan in frustration. Eventually he faced the others. "Look, we may have to stay on the move at some point. But for now, we should go back to Shinra HQ and report to Reno."

"That place... it brings back uncomfortable memories." Sephiroth looked at Cloud, then at the ground. "It's as if... well... it doesn't matter."

Cloud sighed. "It's all I can think of right now. Besides, we could use all the help we can get."

Barret stood up and stamped his foot on the ground. "Damn, Cloud! Ya think we can really trust Shinra? Hell, I know what they're like." The blonde man sighed again and said that that was the only option for the moment. They then discussed how they were going to get there quickly, and the trio all agreed that public transport was out of the question. Neither Sephiroth nor Barret had a vehicle, and Cloud's motorcycle was some distance away with no fuel. Their only option was to ask someone for a ride, but there was a problem...

"Everyone knows what Sephiroth did, and they aren't gonna trust him. He mightn't remember, but the rest of us would. If we're gonna catch a ride from someone, we've gotta disguise Sephiroth enough so that he won't be recognised."

Barret scratched his chin in thought. "I think I got some old stuff we can use. Might be an idea if we all disguise ourselves, ya know, jes' in case." Cloud agreed.

"This seems ridiculous. Why should _I_ be the one who has to hide?" Sephiroth gave Cloud a narrow gaze and snorted. "If anything, it should be you, since those idiots are after you."

"Those same idiots are after you too, and besides, I said that we'll all be going in disguise. It'll be safer for us all." Sephiroth sighed and nodded in response. Barret went upstairs to retrieve the things he said he had and brought them all down. The trio searched through them, picking out several things that would make a suitable disguise. Whilst they put them on, they discussed how they were going to communicate, and gave themselves fake names. After that was sorted, they all left Barret's house and walked some way away so that they might be able to protect the place from their enemies. They managed to catch the attention of a man in an off-road vehicle and they all climbed inside, asking the driver to take them to Shinra Headquarters.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter**____**6**_

The ride in the off-roader was uncomfortable and cramped, since all three of them had clambered into the back seats. Several times the driver asked them why they wanted to go to Shinra Headquarters.

"We heard they're recruitin' some new tough guys in SOLDIER." Cloud explained in a disguised voice.

"Rockstar rejects? Seriously?" The driver chuckled. "Shinra's really losing their touch. Besides, rockstars have bad attitudes."

"President Rufus said we'd be more likely to get the job if we had loads of attitude." Sephiroth also spoke in a disguised voice, but he was uncomfortable in the outfit. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Cloud, why are we doing this?"

"Quiet! If the driver hears your real voice..." Cloud had to hush himself as he raised his voice. Just then the off-roader was pulled over by some uniformed Shinra officers who were doing a 'routine check' on 'suspicious vehicles'. One of them was a young brunette who couldn't take her eyes off Sephiroth in disguise. She opened the rear door of the off-roader and tried to casually flirt with him, but he pushed her away, climbing out of the vehicle and removing his disguise, revealing his long silver hair and Black Cape. The brunette promptly backed away, shivering and turning pale. The other officers took a step back as well but they looked as if they would spring into action at any moment.

Cloud groaned and climbed out as well, removing his disguise. "Great. Now we're screwed." He stepped towards the man in the Black Cape and shot him a narrow stare. "Nice going, genius. You've messed up the plan."

"I wasn't standing for that woman doing that to me. That is the _last_ time I disguise myself. Ever." Sephiroth looked back at Cloud with a icy glare. "Don't give me that look. It could have been _you_." The two ended up arguing about the situation for a few minutes until Barret fired his gun-arm in the air.

"Alright, ya bickerin' idiots! We'll jes' 'ave ta come up with somethin' else!"

Cloud shook his head slowly. "You do realise it'll take us an hour to get to Shinra HQ on foot from here, and then what?" He was interrupted by a call on his PHS, so he answered it.

"I hope you're ready, Strife. You may have got away last time, but not this time. I have your friend Reno in my custody in the Sector 5 Slums. I'll let him go on several conditions. First, you bring Sephiroth with you, and second, you come on your own with him. Either that or I do away with your little Turk friend. Then I do away with you." The line went dead. Cloud felt himself shaking.

"The hell's goin' on, Cloud?" Barret placed a hand on the blonde man's shoulder.

There was an awkward silence. "Those guys who were after Sephiroth before... they've got Reno. They want me to... well, it's just that... oh, they want me to take Sephiroth to them alone." Another awkward silence followed.

"Damn!" Barret stamped his foot. "Those other bastards are worse than bloody Shinra! An' I thought it could get no worse!"

"I know, Barret... I know. We need to think up a strategy."

In a run-down, dank alleyway in the Sector 5 Slums, a rat scampered along the garbage-strewn ground, squeaking as it went. It stopped and sniffed at a shoe.

"Urrgh... go away..." Reno groaned, kicking at the creature. The rat squeaked again and scurried away, just as the man with shoulder-length silver hair wearing a black leather outfit strode up to him, pointing his gunblade in the Turk's face.

"I thought Shinra's lackeys were tougher than that." He gave a blackhearted laugh, keeping the gunblade aimed between Reno's eyes. "Especially those lackiest of lackeys, the Turks. You're a disgrace, Reno."

The Turk gasped. "You... you know my name?"

Another cold laugh. "Everyone who knows their enemy knows the Turks. And I know all about your little plan with Strife. You're trying to stop Mother's resurrection. I'm afraid I can't allow that..."

"Then at least tell me who you are... You know your enemy, now let me know mine." Reno's voice went a little shaky at the end as another rat scampered over his leg.

The other man lowered the gunblade before squatting in front of Reno, their eyes locking for a moment. "You may as well know my name, since I'll be your executioner when the time comes." He smirked. "Kadaj." Slowly he stood up again and stepped backwards, never taking his eyes off the Turk as he aimed his gunblade once more.

"What do you want with me, Kadaj?" Reno ground his teeth.

"Stupid as well as easily scared." Kadaj snorted and put his free hand on his hip. "You _know_ what I want. Even Strife knows, and he will deliver. _Alone._" He smiled at his little victory. "And if he doesn't... well, he'll come to rescue you and all he'll find is a corpse."

"You sound so sure. You obviously don't know Cloud as well as I do. He'll outwit you." Reno grinned a little, hoping that that would have shaken Kadaj's ego.

"You mean as he outwitted you and your pathetic Turk friends? It doesn't take much to outwit idiocy like that." Kadaj laughed again. "It'll take more than that for him to outwit me. _Far_ more." He took out his PHS and punched in Cloud's frequency with his free hand. "Now let's make sure Strife can find me."

"So wait... _that's_ yer plan? I dunno, Cloud... seems a bit... outta our league. An' not forgettin' how well the disguisin' plan went before." Barret groaned as Cloud explained his plan to have him and Sephiroth effectively 'swap places'.

"Go on. You must have a better plan then."

"Sho' do, Cloud. Means we ain't goin' riskin' Sephiroth's ass, neither. If ya can, see if ya can get whoever wants 'im ta 'ave someone stand in for ya. That'll be me. Then, you take Sephiroth's place."

"I see a problem." Sephiroth stood next to Cloud. "I'm a good few inches taller than he is, also I'm a lot paler looking. Not to mention that his hair defies gravity when mine doesn't."

"S'pose we could make 'im wear high heels..." Barret chuckled. Cloud groaned.

"No, forget the high heels and height difference. I still have the silvery wig I wore for my previous disguise." The blonde man slipped it on over his hair. "It's almost the same length. And if I borrow Sephiroth's Black Cape and his katana... I _could_ pass as him. Barret, we need a bag to put over my head." Barret shrugged. "It'll hide my eyes and eyebrows from view at least long enough to-" Cloud's PHS rang. "Hold on." He answered it.

"Let me make this easy for you, Strife." Kadaj's voice was cold over the other end of the line. "I'm holding Reno in the most run-down part of the Sector 5 Slums. Make sure you do as I asked."

Cloud took a deep breath. "Listen... I won't be able to make it. I'm still pretty beat up after our last fight."

He picked up a laugh. "You can't just chicken out, Strife."

"I'm not. I'll send someone in my place who I trust with my life."

"Go on. I'm listening."

"His name is Barret Wallace. He's tall, dark skinned, very muscular and has a gun-arm on his right arm."

There was a pause. "I hope you really do trust this Barret Wallace with your life. If he doesn't bring Sephiroth to me on his own, Reno dies. And so does he." The line went dead. Cloud faced Barret.

"Alright, it's settled. So we have our plan."

Sephiroth handed the blonde man his Black Cape, his katana and the belts he wore on his chest and waist. "Here, you'll need them. I want them back though." Cloud nodded and took them. "I'd better take your sword." The blonde man unstrapped his Buster Sword and handed it over, along with his shirt and belts. "I'll head back to Barret's place."

"Stay out of sight." Cloud warned. Sephiroth nodded and left the other two men.

"I really don't know, Barret... this feels like I'm betraying myself, dressing as my former enemy whom I still don't completely trust..." Cloud slipped on and tightened the belts as he spoke, pushing the katana through a convenient loop on the waist belt before putting on the Black Cape, flicking the hair of his wig out over it. "Well... does it work?"

"Ya still look like Cloud from where I'm standin', but..." Barret took a good few steps back. "from 'ere, I reckon you'll pass for Sephiroth. Now I got a bag I can put over that ugly head o' yours." He chuckled as he pulled out a black sack from the pack attached to his waist. Cloud thumped him. "Ya know I was kiddin', right?"

"I know." Cloud let Barret put the sack over his head. The weave was tight enough so it looked solid from a distance, but loose enough so that he could see through it, albeit not that well. "Let's hope this fools that guy..."

"Yeah. So look like ya don't wanna be doin' this, I'll keep me gun-arm pointed at ya, an' don't say anythin'. Not havin' yer voice givin' ya away." Barret shoved Cloud in the back. "Time t' do this." He made sure to handle Cloud like a captive, but before they left for the designated location, they discussed about overpowering this mysterious person if they got the chance. When Barret said the code word, both he and Cloud would spring into action. The duo then headed for the most run-down part of the Sector 5 Slums.

Meanwhile, Kadaj was enjoying tormenting Reno with how Cloud had backed down out of fear and had sent Barret in his place.

"Do you seriously think you can face the fact that Strife didn't show because he was scared? Or maybe he doesn't want to see your dead body."

Reno growled under his breath. "It doesn't matter, Kadaj! Cloud wouldn't leave me behind even if he did send someone else."

"Really." Kadaj leaned in front of Reno and grinned nastily. "What makes you think that this Barret Wallace doesn't want to see you dead? I know about him too. He hates you _so_ much." He stopped just as he heard two sets of footsteps approaching. "I think he's come to join us." Smirking, he backed up and strode to the entrance. He saw Barret standing there, pointing his gun-arm at Cloud who was disguised. "So you're Barret Wallace. And you brought Sephiroth too. Alone, I hope?"

"Yeah." Barret tried to sound mean. "Made sure no-one followed. If they did I shot 'em."

"I see." Kadaj frowned a little. "Why would you hide his face, Wallace?"

Barret chuckled, the false story slipping out easily. "Ya sure ya wanna be seein' a face as ugly as that, eh? I did ya a favour and hid it so's ya don't frighten the locals!"

Kadaj grinned. "I'm glad Strife sent you in his place. I never liked him. Well come on then, bring him with you and I'll let Strife's little Turk friend go." Barret nodded and grabbed Cloud by the scruff of his neck, dragging him forward before pushing him to the floor. "I'm surprised he didn't struggle more. In our last encounter he was very defiant."

"Ya know, s'probably 'cuz I got a big gun. Ya don't struggle if yer captor's got a big gun." Barret motioned to his gun-arm as he spoke, although the constant lying was making him feel sick to his stomach. Cloud was unnerved by how easily Barret was lying to Kadaj.

"Good point... perhaps my gun wasn't big enough." Kadaj strode over to Reno and hoisted the Turk to his feet, freeing him from a rope that bound his hands together behind his back. He pushed the redhead forward. "Go, Reno. Get away before I change my mind." The Turk said nothing and ran for it. "I kept my end of the deal, Wallace. Now you complete your end. Show me his face."

Barret gripped the bag over Cloud's head with one hand and kept his eyes on Kadaj. "Ya sure you want me t' show ya that ugly mug of 'is?"

"_Just__show__me__his__face,__Wallace!_" Kadaj's face was livid with anger. Barret smiled then, ignoring the furious outburst.

"Don't come cryin' t' me if ya faint wi' the shock!" He pulled the bag off with a flourish. Cloud tried to look as if he didn't know why he was here, and he decided against saying anything, remembering what Barret had said before they came.

"Hmmm..." Kadaj didn't come any closer to the other two men. "Stand him up. I want to see him fully." Barret complied and hoisted Cloud to his feet. Kadaj cocked his head to one side. "He's shrunk a little since I last saw him."

"I didn't notice that. Well, jes' so ya know, he is intact for ya."

Kadaj stepped forward and in that moment he realised he'd been duped. His eyes narrowed as he noticed Cloud. "Strife! You bastard, thinking you could stop my plan by coming in Sephiroth's place and sending your friend Wallace."

"It ain't over yet, ya snivellin' rat! We got a special delivery!" Cloud sprang into action almost instantly, pulling the large katana out from the belt-loop. It was too unbalanced and heavy for him to wield and it was taking most, if not all, of his focus just to keep it steady.

"And your trick falls down further by you being unable to wield his sword properly." Kadaj grinned slyly. "You and Wallace aren't going to last very long." He ran forward then, using the sharpened edge of his gunblade to swing at Cloud. He managed to block it, but the fact he was using an unfamiliar sword caused him to overbalance and fall to the ground. Kadaj quickly gripped him by the throat and pinned him down, aiming the gunblade between the blonde's eyes.

"Game over, Strife." Before Kadaj could shoot him through the head, some other gunshots caused him to back away, but Barret hadn't moved. Two distinct voices could be heard.

"We know you're holding Reno back there!"

"You asshole, we'll make you pay for that!"

"We're gonna make sure-" The sentence trailed off as Elena stopped just between Barret and Cloud. "Cloud? And Barret? What are you two doing here? Where's Reno?"

"We got him outta here following a threatening PHS call I got." Cloud explained the situation carefully. "That guy over there..." He pointed to Kadaj, who was slowly backing away. "He told me where to go. I went with Barret, got Reno out, and then..." He stopped.

"Then what?" Elena gestured to Cloud to tell him to carry on explaining. "And explain to me why you're dressed like Sephiroth."

"Part of our plan. We won't explain now... for obvious reasons." Cloud looked towards Elena. "Don't worry. Reno's okay, he got out. We need to finish the job before-" He turned around just to see Kadaj climbing up a drainpipe. "He's trying to escape! Stop him!"

Elena sprinted towards the drainpipe and started to climb up it just as Rude ran in to see the commotion. He assisted his colleague by trying to shoot at Kadaj, but his aim was off. Barret joined in the shooting and managed to catch Kadaj in the arm, forcing him to stop. Elena grabbed hold of his ankle and tried to pull him down and, with a few more shots from Barret and Rude to weaken him further, she managed to dislodge him from the pipe.

"Make sure he doesn't get away!" Elena called, making her way back down the pipe.

Kadaj picked himself up and broke into a run, but Cloud quickly stuck his foot out and tripped him, sending him flying. He quickly pinned the other man to the floor.

"Okay, so whose game is over now?" Cloud smiled at his little victory. Kadaj said nothing and tried to struggle free, but the ex-SOLDIER had him pinned in such a way that escape was - for the most part - impossible.

"Good, you've got him properly." Elena stepped forward and squatted beside Kadaj. "So... you're definitely in on something, trying to make Meteor happen all over again. Who are you working for?"

"Does it matter?" Kadaj spat. "I only follow Mother's word, what Mother says and her decrees and doctrines. I don't work for her. It is my duty to serve her. She says she wants her first son to return to her so they can become one with the Planet together."

"And we should let that happen because...?" Elena leaned in closer, a sense of mockery in her tone.

"I won't tell you, Elena. Don't ask how I know your name. Just know this. If Mother ever discovers that her first son has forgotten his purpose, as Strife claims, or that you're trying to stop him fulfilling it, she will not be pleased..."

"We don't care about that!" Cloud slammed Kadaj's head against the ground. "We aren't going to let another Meteor incident happen! How many times do I have to tell you?"

The other man was hardly shaken from the impact. "You really should pay more attention to your surroundings, Strife." Kadaj smirked a confident smirk before chuckling. Cloud looked around but he couldn't make anything out. A gunshot sounded from nowhere. The ex-SOLDIER sprang to his feet and looked around again. Kadaj saw his chance. He quickly rolled over and got to his feet before sprinting away from the group. Rude tried to trip him but he was too slow.

"Damn! The bastard got away!" Barret clenched a fist. "The hell we gonna find out what's goin' on now?" Rude and Elena shrugged.

"We should go back to your place, Barret. Don't forget, we need to keep an eye on Sephiroth. I just hope that guy who just got away doesn't know he's there."

"Not too loud! He could be listenin'!"

"Right. Let's go." Cloud began to head out of the alley, and the others followed after him, a sinking feeling in their hearts. They could only hope that Kadaj hadn't found out where Barret's house was.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter**____**7**_

Barret noticed that the door to his house was wide open. The large man did his best to hide the background fear brewing but it was starting to show, and it was spreading to the rest of the group.

"Oi! If there's anyone in there that shouldn't be, ya better get out or else yer gonna get it!"

"Shhh!" Cloud covered Barret's mouth. "Listen." There were sounds of clashing metal against metal, along with groans and grunts.

"The hell's goin' on in there?" Barret rushed inside and headed up the stairs. Cloud followed after him, while Rude and Elena decided to check downstairs. None of them seemed to be getting closer to the source of the sound.

"I think Wallace has just come back. Now get our quarry out of here." It was Kadaj's voice, and it was close to Cloud and Barret's position.

"Alright, ya thievin' bastards! Drop whatever the hell ya stole and get the hell outta my house!" Barret kicked in a closed door and pointed his gun-arm through the threshold.

"I wouldn't shoot blind if I were you, Wallace. You might hurt someone you don't _intend_ to..." Kadaj deliberately emphasised the word intend. Barret growled and went into the room, noticing that a man with slicked back silver hair had hold of Sephiroth. "Now be a good boy and leave me to do what Mother told me to." Another gun was armed.

"Let him go." Cloud strode in and faced Kadaj with an icy stare. "Tell your 'Mother' that she can get screwed."

"Cloud... I now know what my true destiny is." Sephiroth sounded more confident than he had been since the escape from the Gamma Building. Cloud prompted him to speak further. "I must... become..."

The blonde man felt his heart pounding. "No, Sephiroth. Don't go back down that road."

"Unfortunately it's true. My destiny is clear. I must become one with the Planet, as my mother has said. But first, Mother must be resurrected..."

"Damn it, no!" Cloud stamped his foot in protest. "That isn't you. I saw what you were like before then! I witnessed it firsthand! Don't make me have to fight you again..."

"You see, Strife?" Kadaj smiled an evil smile. "I told you that you couldn't stop Mother's resurrection. Now if you'll excuse us, we have more important people to deal with than you _vermin_." He strode out of the room, with the other man following. Sephiroth stayed behind.

"Come, my brother!" Kadaj called. "Mother won't approve of the delay!"

"I'll be over in a little while, I just need to straighten out some facts with the vermin." When he was sure that Kadaj and the other man had left, Sephiroth looked at Cloud with a little sadness in his eyes.

"No, not this again..." The blonde man sighed heavily.

"That's not what I wanted to say, Cloud. Listen, that was just a front. I've been thinking about who I really am... and now I know. I was once a revered and feared member of SOLDIER. I'm going to stay with those two for now and pretend, but I'll make sure that nothing is done." Sephiroth gave Cloud a light smile. "Why I ever thought that Jenova thing was my mother... I guess I'll never know."

Cloud shrugged. "I don't think anyone ever will, to be honest..." He let out another heavy sigh. "You'd better go with those guys before they start gettin' suspicious." He took off the Black Cape, the katana and belts and handed them to Sephiroth, who then put them on. In return, he handed Cloud his weapon, shirt and belts.

"We'll see each other again, I'm sure. Is there some way I can get hold of you? In case I find anything out, I can tell you. There has to be more to this than it seems..."

The blonde man nodded in agreement and gave Sephiroth his PHS frequency. The man in the Black Cape bid them all farewell and left to go with Kadaj and the other silver-haired man.

"I'm not so keen on this whole thing with Sephiroth risking himself to find out more about what those weirdoes want. It's bad enough that he's got a patchy memory, but this? This could potentially trigger off the other side of him, and we all know what that means." Elena glanced at the other men. They didn't have to say anything and just nodded. "Cloud... you should've tried to convince him otherwise." A PHS started ringing. Everyone scrambled to check theirs, and it was Elena's PHS that was ringing. She answered and found that it was her colleague Reno. He told her more about his capture and what Kadaj had said to him. She hung up and looked towards the others.

"Looks like Reno's got some info on one of our mystery men who are hell-bent on making another Meteor incident happen. Seems the guy with the shoulder-length hair and the gunblade is named Kadaj." The men nodded in acknowledgement.

"We're not going after him right now though." Cloud was firm. "I know I'm as apprehensive as the rest of you, but let's give Sephiroth a chance. Besides, we don't even know where this Kadaj went to after he left."

"Damn! I ain't jes' gonna sit around an' let those morons do whatever the hell they want t' the Planet! I'm gonna go after 'em an' give 'em what for!" Barret stood up and raised his gun-arm. "I'm gonna show 'em ya don't mess wi' Barret Wallace! An' I'm-"

"Barret!" Cloud stood up and covered Barret's mouth. "I said we aren't goin' after Kadaj yet. We've gotta wait."

"An' wait for Meteor to crash into us again? I dunno what yer game plan is, Cloud, but I sure as hell ain't keen! We can't jes' sit 'round, as I said!"

Elena groaned under her breath before standing up and calling for silence. She made the point of saying that they should go with Cloud's plan for the moment, at least until they find out any more information on Kadaj and his allies. They decided to head back to Shinra HQ to discuss their plans further.

President Rufus Shinra was waiting for them all when they arrived at the headquarters. He smiled lightly and led them to his office.

"Since I finished in the meetings, I'd like to check on the progress of how everything is going. I'll start with you, Cloud." He gestured towards the ex-SOLDIER. "Were you able to find anything out about the Meteor incident and Jenova from Sephiroth's perspective?" Cloud shook his head. Reno raised his hand, and the President called on him to speak.

"Actually, President, Cloud's findings were the same as mine, yours and Elena's. As well as the findings from a few others in HQ. So he's right, we didn't really find anything more out. Sephiroth's memory does seem to be returning though." The President prompted him to explain further. "Nothing definitive. Just snippets that don't seem to make much sense."

"Thank you, Reno." President Rufus looked towards Elena. "And the isolation proceedings? How did those go? Is Sephiroth being kept away from anything that might cause him to start up another Meteor incident and try to bring Jenova back?" Elena remained silent. She fidgeted with the gun in the holster on her hip and bit her lip. "You... didn't... let him free... did you?" Still Elena said nothing. Cloud raised his hand and the President called on him to speak.

"Well actually... about that... Elena and Rude didn't let him free deliberately. He's actually in a position where he's trying to find out about another group who are trying to bring back Jenova. He's currently pretendin' to work for them and he'll contact me if he finds anything."

"We found out that there's a guy named Kadaj involved with them." Reno added. He went on to explain what Kadaj looked like. The President nodded and faced the computer on his desk. He conducted a worldwide search to find any records, and he got one hit.

"Hmm..." The President studied the search result. "Full name is Kadaj Trevelyan, appears around 29 years of age, birthplace and birth date unknown. Current residence unknown. Family unknown. No criminal history, no affiliation with Shinra or any of the experiments that have been conducted here." He propped his chin up with his free hand and sighed. "How he could have known about Jenova is beyond me. Ideally we need to search through all known records of him."

The group nodded and Elena stood up. "I can send a message down to the Shinra Science Department and ask them to search their records, just in case. I'll also conduct searches on the computerised databases of all the residents in all the main towns." The President agreed and sent her away before he looked towards Reno and Rude.

"You two, search the non-main towns and outlying villages." He faced Cloud and Barret. "And you two, stay sharp. If Sephiroth finds anything out about Kadaj Trevelyan and his motives and allies, tell me straight away. If he's swapped sides, tell me about that too." The duo nodded and left.

Cloud and Barret had gone back to Barret's house whilst they waited for further updates from Sephiroth or any more information on the elusive Kadaj Trevelyan. By the time they had settled down with some food and drink, Cloud's PHS rang. He answered it.

"Glad you answered so quickly, Cloud. It's Sephiroth."

The blonde man seemed relieved. "What've you got for us?"

"I've found out something more on those guys who are trying to resurrect Jenova- hold on, there's someone coming." The line went mostly silent. Cloud could hear knocks and thumps, shouts and curses along with a low bubbling sound. "Sorry about that. Kadaj needed me for something."

"I see..." Cloud thought a moment. "Did Kadaj tell you anything about himself, his family... anything?"

"No he didn't. Why do you want to know?"

"The President of Shinra's trying to find out more about Kadaj's motives and the reason he's tryin' to bring back Jenova. If you find out anything at all, I need you to tell me straight away, alright?"

"Got it. I have to go now though. Kadaj isn't so keen on anyone using a PHS when he's around. Not even Yazoo or Loz."

"Yazoo? Loz? Who are those two?"

"Kadaj's friends, although they look so similar I'm sure they're all related. Anyway, Kadaj is trying to resurrect Jenova because he believes he'll be granted immortality. And if they manage to do it-"

"Sephiroth! What were you going to- Damn! It's gone dead!" Cloud gripped his PHS tightly and shook with anger before taking a deep breath and putting it away. Barret looked at him and asked what the PHS call was about.

"It looks like Sephiroth managed to find some more out about Kadaj Trevelyan. Nothing about him or his motives, but that he's got two friends called Yazoo and Loz. Nothing more about them though. I think we should tell the President about that."

Barret nodded while Cloud took out his PHS again and called President Rufus to update him with the new findings. The President kept him on the line whilst he looked into the new names from his end and he got some results – Loz Carradine and Yazoo Saltzmann, but both records had no residence, birth date, birthplace, affiliation with Shinra or any criminal records listed. Their ages were estimated at 32 and 26 years respectively. The blonde man thanked him and hung up, relaying the new findings to Barret.

"Something's botherin' me though, Barret. Before the line went dead, Sephiroth was trying to tell me about what would happen if Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz managed to resurrect Jenova."

"What'd he say?"

"He was cut off before he could finish. I just hope that Kadaj didn't find out he was tellin' me. I really don't want to think about what that bastard does to people who disobey him."

"Ya see Cloud, if we were goin' after 'em instead of jes' sittin' around an' doin' absoulutely nothin', we mightn't 'ave ta be thinkin' about that! Sometimes, ya gotta let someone else take charge!"

The ex-SOLDIER rounded on Barret. "Yeah, but knowin' what you're like, you'll end up getting us all killed! You make reckless decisions sometimes, Barret. That's why I can't let you take charge."

"Oi, don't start pushin' me! I was in charge when we were in AVALANCHE, but then again, you started tryin' to twist me into makin' decisions I didn't agree with! Suit yerself then, you sit here an' jes' wait it out. I'm goin' after Kadaj."

"But you don't even know where he's hiding!" Cloud slapped a palm to his forehead. "If you go out there without any plans, you're gonna get yourself killed." Barret sighed heavily and stormed upstairs to his bedroom.

Meanwhile, Elena was getting frustrated with searching all the computerised databases. She hadn't found a single record mentioning Kadaj Trevelyan anywhere. Slamming a fist down on the desk and pushing back her hair, she tried conducting searches on each database separately. Surely something had to turn up. Eventually she managed to find one record in the Nibelheim database, mentioning that Kadaj Trevelyan was born there, and that only his mother was listed. No other data was listed.

"It's not enough to go on... only his birthplace and maternal record listed. No paternal record or anything else." She sighed heavily and rested her head on the desk. A loud knock reverberated throughout the room.

"Elena! Elena! We've got some more records to search!" It was the President. The Turk sighed once more and sat bolt upright just as the door swung open behind her, the breeze ruffling her hair and the papers on the desk. "But before you do, did you find anything more on Kadaj Trevelyan?"

"Nothing much, President. Only that he was born in Nibelheim and that his mother was a woman named Eloise Trevelyan. A search on her shows that she's living in Kalm. I haven't heard back from the Science Department either."

"Alright, I'll send a team to ask her more about her son. In the meantime I need you to search for two new names in all the main databases. Loz Carradine and Yazoo Saltzmann."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Saltzmann?"

"You know him?"

"I don't think so, but the surname sounded familiar. I'm not sure if it's connected or not... but there's someone in Shinra by the name of Christopher Saltzmann..." Elena turned her attention back to the computer and typed in the name, searching through all the databases for any connections. One turned up. "Here we go. Christopher Saltzmann, aged 36, works in Shinra Weapons Development, only known family member is his brother Yazoo Saltzmann."

The President put his hands on his hips. "And what about the other name – Loz Carradine?"

Elena typed in the name and conducted another database search. "No other records. Hold on, let me try something..." She typed in the name 'Dean Lorcraza' and searched. One result turned up.

"Looks like Loz Carradine is using an alter ego. Dean Lorcraza is an anagram. Just came to mind. I know we've had people escape prison by making anagrams of their names, so I tried the same theory here." Elena read through the record. "Hmm... born in Wutai but was exiled because he refused to train using their ways. Both parents registered – Chiara Stephens and Frederick Lorcraza. Criminal record shows seven accounts of looting, two accounts of murder and one account of rape. This one is probably the most dangerous of the three of them."

"Does Loz, or Dean, have any other family members outside of Wutai? Any contacts or anything? His parents wouldn't know anything about this."

"Nothing, President. Looks like another dead end." Elena sighed heavily. "Tell you what, I'll go and ask Christopher Saltzmann what he knows. Do you think you could update the others?" The President nodded and left the room. The female Turk brought up Christopher Saltzmann's record, took a few notes and prepared some questions before she too left the room to find him.

"I'm startin' to get used to the Shinra now." Barret commented after Cloud had received and relayed the latest update from the President. "Least we're sorta getting' along, an' we're all workin' together, even though I still don't completely trust 'em." Cloud nodded in agreement.

"Still, we've only found out more about those three in terms of background. Nothing on motives though, and nothing on where they're based either. I found out that Shinra's chasing down a few relatives of them – Kadaj's mother, Eloise Trevelyan and Yazoo's brother, Christopher Saltzmann."

"I dunno 'bout this, Cloud... but I've got a hunch 'bout where they might be. Since we basically faced off against Jenova in th' Northern Crater, I'm thinkin' they might be there. Jes' sayin', could be wrong..."

"Well... I'm bored of waiting for something solid. Let's go with your hunch and head to the Northern Crater. I'll give Cid a call and get him to bring the Highwind. We'll make good time then." Cloud pulled out his PHS and called Cid immediately. He explained the situation as best as he could, despite the fact that there were a lot of gaps that needed to be filled. Cid said he would come as soon as possible and hung up.

"Right, that's that sorted. We'd better grab some warm coats so we can wrap up when we get there. Last time we went, because we were unprepared, I almost got frostbite." Barret nodded and went up to his bedroom to gather some suitable coats, scarves, gloves and hats. Almost instantly after he had come back with them, he and Cloud could hear a low whirring rumbling sound outside. They looked outside and they saw the familiar shape of the Highwind. When the rumbling had stopped, there was a knock at the door. Barret opened it and let Cid in.

"Good t' see ya, Barret. An' Cloud too. Said it was urgent so I came as soon as I could, even though I'm not really sure what's goin' on here." Cid flipped open a packet of cigarettes, pulled one out and chewed on the filter a bit.

"Don't light that in here, Cid. Gotta keep this place clean for me daughter Marlene." Barret warned. Cid nodded and put his lighter away.

"I'm lightin' up when we get outside though. Got your stuff? We're goin' now. I ain't waitin'!"

"Neither are we!" Barret snatched up the warm clothing in one hand, dragged Cloud out of the house with the other and boarded the Highwind. Cid followed after them and lit his cigarette. He took a long drag before blowing a smoke ring.

"Ya not lockin' ya front door, Barret?" Cid took another drag. Barret rushed back out, shut and locked the door and climbed back into the airship. The blonde pilot also got into the airship, closed and locked the airlock and headed into the cockpit. He fired up the engines and they were off.

"To th' Northern Crater! Yeeee-haaaw!" Cid punched the air before taking another drag on his cigarette. "Sure feels good to be flyin' this baby again!"


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

"There's only one thing left to prepare for the Resurrection. And that's you." Kadaj smirked as he pointed at Sephiroth. The man in the Black Cape didn't say anything. He'd said to Cloud that he wouldn't get this involved, and he needed to find a way to stall it – and fast.

"I don't feel I'm ready yet, Kadaj. I promised someone... that I wouldn't..."

Kadaj growled and pulled out his gunblade. "Don't tell me... you've been duped by that idiot Strife, haven't you?"

"If we resurrect now... we won't be prepared. We're not even completely ready yet."

"Yes we are. All you have to do is give yourself to Mother." He looked towards the man with the slicked-back silver hair. "Loz! Restrain him!" Loz nodded and held Sephiroth down, and despite the other man's struggling, he remained firm. Kadaj turned to the other man who also had silver hair, but his was longer and straight. "Yazoo, you get the Draught of Resurrection." Yazoo obeyed and retrieved a small vial of a blue liquid that had a glowing red spot in it near the top.

"I won't do this, Kadaj. Never again!" Sephiroth tried to wrench himself free from Loz, but the other man still held firm. The man in the Black Cape could only watch on as Yazoo handed the vial to Kadaj.

"It's a pity our mutual friend Strife isn't here to see this..." Kadaj chuckled evilly as he stepped closer and uncorked the vial. "He'd love to watch as Mother is reunited with her first son..." Sephiroth growled under his breath and threw his entire weight backwards, causing Loz to lose his grip, overbalance and fall. The man in the Black Cape quickly got to his feet and drew his katana. Kadaj downed the contents of the vial.

"I will never, _ever_, bow to Jenova again!"

"We will see..." A cruel smirk touched Kadaj's lips.

The Highwind was making good progress since it had left Barret's house almost two hours ago. It was already two thirds of the way to the Northern Crater, and the air of the cockpit was thick with smoke.

"You know, Captain, if we didn't know you smoked like a chimney, we'd probably think there was a fire!" Cid's co-pilot spluttered and coughed whilst he spoke. Meanwhile Cloud was looking out of the cockpit window. He was thinking about everything that had happened so far, and about what they were getting themselves into.

"I just hope those guys are there, and that Sephiroth is still on our side. I really don't fancy the idea of fighting that guy again."

"An' knowin' how difficult he was th' first time, I don't wanna have t' do it either, Cloud." Barret looked towards Cid, who nodded in agreement. The pilot then turned his attention to his co-pilot, who said that they would be arriving at the Northern Crater very soon.

"Alright! Get ready for a bumpy ride! We're goin' in, an' the wind's gonna rock us, so hang onto yer hats, guys!" Cid took the helm and steered the Highwind through the mountains that surrounded the Crater. The harsh winds were buffeting the craft and forcing him to overcompensate. The engines started to sound strange before their noises stopped.

"Damn! Damn, damn, damn... the engine's just stalled!" Cid looked out of the window. "Double damn, we're gonna crash into ground zero! Right! All o' ya, get some parachutes an' jump out!" Everyone except Cloud and Cid scrambled for the parachutes.

"C'mon Cloud!" Barret called from nearby one of the emergency exits.

Cloud ignored him for the moment. "Cid... what about you?"

Cid sighed. "I'm not goin' with ya, Cloud. A good captain stays with his ship 'til the end, even if it kills 'im!" He pushed the other blonde towards the emergency exit. "Go, save yerself, an' save the world!" Cloud was about to protest but Cid remained firm. He ran for the emergency exit, grabbed the parachute from Barret, strapped it on and the two jumped out of the plummeting airship together. They pulled their chutes and landed safely, quickly disentangling themselves from them and running for the Crater. Out of the corner of his eye Cloud saw the airship was about to crash nose-down. His PHS rang so he answered it.

"Hey Cloud, it's Elena. Just to let you know we might have found a motive for these guys. Our sources confirmed it all. It seems that they want the power of the Lifestream, and they're going to use Jenova in order to get to it." Cloud was about to speak, but a loud explosion and a bright orange and yellow flash engulfed the area. "What was that?"

"That was our friend's airship crashing and exploding. The engines stalled before we could get to the Northern Crater."

"The Northern Crater?" Elena's voice showed interest. "That's where we found those guys were based! But... we never told you. How did you find out?"

"We went off a hunch that Barret had."

"Right. Anyway, I've seen where you are by triangulating your PHS with our satellite system. You're close to where they're based, about a mile and a half from the place. Looks like the centre of the crater. I'm picking up four other PHS signals at the target area. At a guess, that's Sephiroth and those three." Elena hung up. Cloud relayed the new information to Barret and the duo picked up speed, heading to the centre of the crater.

Kadaj laughed nastily just as he caught sight of Cloud and Barret. "Well if it isn't my two favourite thorns in the side, Strife and Wallace." He strode forward, smirking. "You're too late to stop the Resurrection. Mother will soon take her first son, and then, the Planet."

"Jenova won't be coming back." A curved blade glinted and the edge was pressed against Kadaj's throat. For the first time, Cloud and Barret saw fear in Kadaj. "Your plan was doomed from the start."

Kadaj swallowed, his eyes trying to meet those of the person that held him. "You can't hold off the inevitable." He grunted as he was thrown forward and pinned to the ground. Sephiroth stepped out of the shadows and pressed the blade of his katana to the other man's throat again.

"It's over, Kadaj. The Resurrection isn't taking place."

"It actually already _is_ happening..." Kadaj's voice sounded different, hollow and cold. His eyes were glowing bright red and he growled as he looked at Cloud. "As I said, Strife... you can't stop Mother's resurrection..." A blue glow began to surround him, lifting him into the air. Sephiroth was forced to let go and Kadaj was lifted further up, his form dissolving and shifting, streams of black and red smoke curling around the area. When the smoke cleared, a thin woman with blue skin, blue hair, glowing red eyes and a metal device on her head was standing before Sephiroth, Cloud and Barret. There were tubes coming out of her arms and stomach like tentacles.

"I have returned to you... my children..." Her thin lips creased into a smirk. Sephiroth readied himself. Cloud drew his Buster Sword. Barret armed his gun-arm.

"Damn bitch, Jenova! Yer the one who caused all that misery five an' a half years ago! Well guess what? I ain't havin' it no more, and yer goin' to hell, ya hear me?" Barret strode forward and made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "It ends right here, right now! Only one of us is walkin' outta this alive!"

"Indeed there will be..." Jenova laughed and stepped forward herself, pointing a finger at Barret. "But it is not going to be you, worthless mortal..." She flicked a ball of energy at him that hit him squarely in the chest. He was thrown back a good few yards, landing heavily. Powerful magic barriers sprang up all around the centre of the crater, boxing Sephiroth and Cloud in with Jenova, and keeping Barret out.

"Cloud." Sephiroth looked towards the blonde man and smiled. "You said that we fought against each other here. Today, we'll fight together against Jenova!" Cloud nodded. The two ex-SOLDIERs readied their weapons and faced their opponent.

"Pitiful." Jenova looked towards Sephiroth with disappointment. "My first son... betraying me to join this pathetic fool." Her visible eye flashed bright red and she raised her arms, electricity crackling between her fingers. Blue lightning arced towards the man in the Black Cape, jolting him and causing him to collapse to the ground. Cloud saw this, readied himself and charged towards Jenova, swinging his large blade down at her, but she quickly threw up a barrier to deflect it, sending the blonde man off-balance.

"C'mon Cloud, ya done this before..." Barret was shouting encouragement through the barrier. Cloud smiled at the thought and got back on his feet. He noticed that Sephiroth was readying an attack.

"Wait for my signal. I'll distract her, then you go in." Cloud picked up a stone. "On the count of three. One... two... THREE!" He hurled the stone as hard as he could at Jenova. It hit her on the side of the head and she strode towards Cloud, a fireball growing in her hands. Before she could throw it, Sephiroth charged at her from the side and slashed at her, the fireball dissipating harmlessly. She fell to the side but she recovered quickly.

"We need another plan!" Sephiroth was forced to jump back as Jenova lashed out with the tentacle-like tubes. He had only just managed to elude the attack. Cloud leapt forward and tried to slash Jenova, but she was too quick, sidestepping out of the way. The momentum caused the blonde man to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

"How pathetic! You cannot best me with the puny fighting style you are using!" Jenova gave the two men a cruel smile whilst she focused on another spell. Her arms began to glow light blue and her attention shifted more towards Sephiroth. He took notice of that and dived out of the way just as she unleashed a wave of magical energy, but his evasion efforts were in vain. The energy arced towards him and started to wrap around him. His limbs began to feel heavy and trying to struggle free was becoming more of an effort. Cloud could only watch on. It seemed that Jenova had disappeared.

"Fight us, Jenova. Fight us properly instead of using your tricks." The blonde man saw some of the energy split off and head towards him, and he tried to elude with no luck. The energy sapped his strength and left him helpless just as Jenova appeared before him, her visible eye glowing brightly.

"Now where's the fun in that? It's more fun to toy with you, Cloud." The way she spoke his name sent ominous chills down his spine. He looked towards Sephiroth, who seemed exhausted. Cloud made no attempt to get his attention - he needed some time to recover. In the meantime he would have to face Jenova alone. It shouldn't be too hard since he had done this before... should it? He readied his sword once more and charged towards her, yelling in rage.

She was too quick. She cartwheeled out of the way before springing forward and knocking Cloud down. He was just about to get up but she pinned him to the ground, kicking his sword out of his hand.

"I will let you watch as I take this Planet for myself..." A beam of red light shot from her hands and into the sky, causing the clouds to turn red and form a swirling, ominous vortex above them. Slowly the sky began to turn pitch black and Jenova's form began to dissolve into a light blue mist that streamed through Cloud's nose. Barret could only watch in shock.

"Damn! Not you, Cloud!" The previously cast spells dissipated and the large man was able to run in to check on his friend. "C'mon Cloud, wake up..." The blonde man did not respond. Meanwhile Sephiroth had just managed to get to his feet.

"What just happened? Where did Jenova go?"

"Damn! As if it jes' couldn't get any worse! Looks like that damn Jenova's tryin' t' take over Cloud! The hell do we do now?" Barret clenched his fist. "This kinda thing makes me hate that bitch even more!" He felt his heart skip a beat when Cloud's eyes snapped open. They were glowing bright red and he sat up slowly.

"You wouldn't want to destroy your friend now, would you?" His voice sounded strange - half like his own and half like Jenova's. Barret growled and looked towards Sephiroth.

"Oi, ya got any ideas on how to stop her possessin' Cloud? Ya gotta have somethin', she possessed you once before!" Before he could get a response, Cloud raised his arms and the vortex in the sky sucked Sephiroth and Barret into its centre.

"If they have any sense, they will know not to come back..."


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

"What's going on here? Cloud isn't answering his PHS!" Reno had been trying to contact Cloud since Elena had updated the rest of Shinra about his progress. "You said an airship exploded the last time you called him, Elena. What's going on at all?"

The female Turk shrugged. "I don't know... maybe he's busy fighting Jenova." A bright blue glow in the centre of the room caused the Turks to notice two male silhouettes standing within it.

"He ain't. He jes' got possessed by 'er."

Elena gasped. "Barret? I thought you were at the-" She looked behind where the large man was standing. "And Sephiroth too? But... this is..."

"It seems that Jenova sent us back here. I haven't seen anything unusual other than something strange in the sky." Sephiroth stepped forward. "Barret is right. Jenova possessed Cloud. However we can't get back to the Northern Crater..."

"Cid an' the Highwind... if his airship hadn't crashed we'd still have a chance!" Elena asked Barret to go into more detail about what happened and he did. She bit her lip and gently patted the large man on the arm, trying to comfort him. "Damn, nothin' seems t' be goin' right for us at all! First we almost get killed by some weirdoes tryin' to bring back Jenova, then we lose th' Highwind, then Jenova tries to kill us... DAMN! I ain't standin' for this no more!"

Sephiroth was looking up at the darkened sky when he felt his head spinning. He held a palm to his forehead and took a few deep breaths. "Something is coming back to me, another piece of my missing memories. That, in the sky... isn't that... Meteor?" He kept looking up, and the others came over to look as well. All eyes were widened in shock.

Reno could only stare. "This is probably the worst case of deja vu I've ever experienced..."

Back at the Northern Crater, Cloud was tied up in a mental war with Jenova. His subconscious had recovered from the initial shock and was now fighting back. Within the boundaries, Cloud himself and Jenova stood facing each other.

"Not this time. Not after what you did to Barret." Bright yellow light burned forth from where Cloud stood, forcing Jenova to recoil and step back. He stepped forward. "You won't get away with this again, Jenova."

The creature laughed, her visible eye glowing brightly. "The Planet will be mine... but why would you forgive the man who burned down your home so easily?" Blue lightning arced from where she stood, striking Cloud and knocking him backwards. The light surrounding him started to fade.

He recovered quickly. "I haven't completely forgiven Sephiroth... at least, not yet, anyway. But maybe in time I will. Then again, this whole thing was really all your fault..." The light became more blinding and a wave of it swept outwards, throwing Jenova backwards and downwards. Cloud smiled and advanced on her. "I'm not letting you take the Planet this time!" More waves of light assaulted Jenova and her grip on Cloud's mind loosened.

"But Meteor... it is coming once again..." Cloud didn't let her snakelike hiss bother him and he kept advancing, the light forcing Jenova from his mind. She rematerialised outside of his head, in front of where his unconscious body lay. "And soon... the Lifestream... will be mine..."

Reno and Elena had immediately called the President after they discovered that Meteor was in the sky once more. Since the last time, the Shinra Defence Department had drawn up emergency evacuation plans to use should such an incident reoccur. Warnings had already been issued throughout Midgar, and soon the rest of the towns would follow. In the meantime, the Shinra military had been put on high alert.

"Alright, the people should be safe now." The President's face turned grave as he looked towards the two Turks. "Well... not completely. We still have Meteor to deal with. Midgar just about managed to stand up to the last one, but we can't take another one."

Elena sighed. "If what Barret says is true, that Cloud's been possessed by Jenova... then what? That complicates it massively." President Rufus hushed her and told her that if that was the case, they would have to kill Cloud as well. The female Turk shook her head and argued they shouldn't kill someone who was innocent but possessed, but the President remained firm. If that was what had to be done, then so be it.

"Maybe we should go back to the Northern Crater and see what the hell Kadaj and his goons are doing." Reno stepped forward. "They might know how to stop it, or at least if they don't, we can get rid of the bastards." He walked to the intercom on the wall and issued a command to the Military Department, telling them to prepare some planes, jets and soldiers. This called for a full scale attack.

"This might not be such a good idea, Reno. Don't forget how much trouble that we had dealing with Jenova back then." Elena seemed rather saddened. "Especially that time when Sephiroth dealt my love Tseng that mortal wound..."

"That's the thing. Jenova and Sephiroth were together then. I've got a feeling that without him, Jenova will be much weaker. Elena, stop worrying." Reno placed a hand on the female's shoulder. "We are gonna do this, no matter what. I've called the Military Department so we've got reinforcements."

The two Turks headed to where Sephiroth and Barret were waiting. "Right, you two. You're coming with us back to the Northern Crater. I've arranged for a plane to take us there." Reno looked towards Elena. "You go and get Rude, then wait for us in the plane. The President'll brief us when we're all there." The female Turk nodded and went away.

"S'about time! I've gotta save Cloud from that bitch an' give 'er a piece o' me!" Barret clenched his fist. "An' she sure as hell ain't gettin' away with settin' off another Meteor!" He looked towards the man in the Black Cape. "Are ya wi' me?"

"I should never have believed anything about Jenova in the first place. I'll go with you, Barret. Let's save Cloud and stop this!" However, seeds of doubt had been sown in Sephiroth's mind. His memories were still patchy, but part of him wanted to let this continue happening. He still wasn't fully sure of who he was, but he thought it best to go with Barret for the moment. His eyes flickered as he looked towards the large man. "I don't understand this thought I have about just... not doing anything, but sometimes that's how-"

Barret interrupted abruptly. "Like hell yer gonna hold me back from savin' my friend! Damn, jes' 'cause yer havin' other thoughts don't mean ya 'ave ta listen to 'em! Ya said yer wi' me, so let's go!" He followed after Reno who was heading down to the Military Department. Sephiroth hesitated a moment before he too followed.

"As you said, Reno. Two planes, three fighter jets, five elite pilots and forty of our best soldiers." The commander of the Elite Shinra Military saluted Reno as he spoke. "They know of all the rammifications and they're prepared to die for the cause." The Turk nodded and ushered everyone towards the back of the plane hangar where the President was stood waiting.

He stepped up to the podium he had set up before addressing everyone. "I won't keep you long. This is just a brief of what must be done." The others fell silent. "The rest of the world is relying on you who stand before me, the most elite in the Shinra military, the Turks and our new allies. Jenova has returned. Meteor approaches once more. If we don't do anything, the world will fall. It is now up to you to stop this happening, and I wish you the very best of luck. I believe Commander Sachs has the plans for how the attack will go?"

The commander stepped forward and bowed his head, thanking the President for his speech and unrolling a chart with an aerial view of the Northern Crater and some lines on it. "Alright, men!"

"And women..." Elena mused, but no-one took notice of her.

"Here is what we are going to do!" The commander pointed to three sweeping blue lines on the chart. "Our fighter pilots will go in and do a preliminary sweep of the area before they return. Their report should hopefully help improve our current plan of attack. The two other planes, the rest of us will be in those. One plane will be sent out and the troops will head down to the surface. The other plane will only be sent in if the troops in the first lot all fall." The rest of the group disputed the plan, but it was all they had.

The troops were split evenly between the two planes, and the fighter jets were manned by the top three pilots. When everyone was ready, the fighter jets were launched first, leading the way for the other two planes. For everyone, it was all or nothing.

Within minutes the fighter jets would be approaching the Northern Crater. They got into formation and flew over the area as the commander directed, doing their preliminary scan. The leader gave the report.

"Commander Sachs, our preliminary report looks clean. Four lifeforms, one definitely showing up as Jenova. Cloud is there, doesn't look like he's possessed..."

The commander thanked the leader and told the fighters to fall back for the moment. The first plane was sent in, the soldiers paradropping to the ground nearly two miles from their destination, but they had sound reasons for doing so. As they made their way up to where Jenova was, one of them spotted what looked like a blackened arm protruding from a wreck of twisted, melted metal.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones trying to stop Jenova here. We found someone else." He sent a quick report to Commander Sachs, who told the squad to unearth them. They did so, and they found a man who seemed to be lifeless. Luckily one of the men was a doctor and he gave Commander Sachs a quick diagnosis on the man's condition.

"Seems like he's a male, early forties, clothing burned away slightly. Seventy percent burns, most second degree, some third degree." He bent down to check the man's vitals whilst he continued to report. "No breathing or pulse. I'll give him CPR." He did so, but after several tries he couldn't detect any signs of recovery. He gently closed the man's eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, Commander Sachs. He's dead."

"Let's go on." The squad leader hurried on with the others. Meanwhile, Commander Sachs was watching over in the other plane, along with Barret and Sephiroth. He gave the two men a stern look.

"I know you want to go down and help, but we're sticking with our original plan."

Barret stamped his foot on the ground. "The hell are we gonna do then? I ain't one to sit round!"

"If you had any sense you would let us go as well." Sephiroth was firm. "Some of my returning memories are telling me that you're not quite as resourceful as you like others to think." He advanced on Commander Sachs. "As much as I appreciate your plan, it doesn't work well for me and Barret."

"Damn right it don't!" The commander still refused to let the two of them go after the other soldiers. Barret ushered the man in the Black Cape to one side out of the commander's earshot. "Let's jes' take matters into our own hands. We gotta help Cloud, so we're gonna set off now. I think I saw where they got their parachutes."

"After you." Sephiroth followed Barret to a hatch in the main body of the plane. The large man tossed him what looked like a backpack and told him to put it on whilst he unhooked the catches on the hatch to get it to open.

"Right, on the count o' three! One... two..."

"What do you think you're doing, you two? I said you weren't leaving this plane just yet!" Barret looked behind him and only just noticed Commander Sachs. He ignored the commander and pushed open the hatch, jumping out of the plane. Sephiroth jumped out after him.


End file.
